The road leading to my home in Iten, Kenya. 60-minute run today at 7,900 feet altitude to start the new week. Happy Monday!
I have spent my entire adult life doing things to distinguish myself and the work I do from others in the industry. I often ask myself why. Others don’t do that. I have a very deep passion that oftentimes controls me. But I love the work I do. That work is who I am.
When you’re inexperienced, you’re just a runner. You run. Like the Kenyans here, you run and run and run and then begin to understand what it means to be a runner. But the learning and the transformation go beyond just running. As you become more experienced with training and racing and you apply the science, you develop a keen sense for things, an ability to look outside of yourself as a runner. You become a coach, even if only to coach yourself. You become an expert at training.
That’s what coaching is all about. It’s about learning the ways to perfect the system, to find out what works because you’ve worked it.
That’s what I’m here to do.
As Poet T.S. Eliot said, “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”
I hope Kenya is far enough for me, because it’s not easy to live without a washing machine, dryer, car, chocolate, apple juice, and cereal.